Gluten Free-zer Friday – Hot Cross Buns

Today is my dear friend Cari’s birthday. In honor of Cari, my girl’s have declared it “Pink Day” where they are wearing all pink, and painting their toenails hot pink. We will also be making some brownies to celebrate Cari’s love of chocolate. We miss you, Cari.

I’ll bring you a Carmel Macchiato…

I know we hear a lot about breast cancer awareness in October, but here on Cari’s birthday, I would like to encourage you to remember those who are touched by cancer of all kinds and the struggles they and their families face beyond the health issues. Please consider the Angel Foundation as a place to share your resources to help families faced with cancer. Since 2001, Angel Foundation has provided financial assistance for adult cancer patients to meet critical non-medical needs, as well as education and support programs to families in the Twin Cities metro area who have a parent with cancer.

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Now onto Free-zer Food Friday… Head over to MJ’s for Freezer Food Friday. Then come on back with your gluten free freezer recipe link. If you have a gluten free freezer recipe to share, let me know in the comments and I will add you to the round up! Come join in on the fun!

Join in on Gluten Free-zer Friday:

1. If you would like to participate in Gluten Free-zer Friday, simply email your post link to your gluten free freezer recipe (angelas_kitchenATcomcastDOTnet) or leave a comment below and I will add you to the roundup.

2. Link back to this post on the post with the recipe you have linked.

Put dried fruit into a bowl. Cover fruit with warm water, just to cover. Allow to soak until needed in recipe. Optionally, you can soak the fruit in orange juice for a different flavor. Sprinkle the gelatin onto the 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Set aside until gelatin has absorbed all the water. Mix gelatin into the warm milk substitute. Add yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar with the warm milk substitute and set aside.

Using very wet or oiled hands, divide mix into 24 smooth balls of dough (about 3 Tablespoons dough per ball). Place dough balls evenly spaced onto a baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment paper. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow to raise for about 45 min to an hour until almost doubled in size. Gently brush buns with egg wash. With oiled scissors, snip a cross shape 1/4″ deep into each bun.

**Bake buns in a preheated 375 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Allow buns to cool on a cooling rack. Mix icing ingredients together until smooth. Place in small zip closure bag. Snip a small corner of the bag to let icing out. Decorate top of buns by making a cross shape in the snipped indents with the icing mixture on top of buns.

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To freeze after baking: When icing is set, wrap buns well and freeze.

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To freeze before baking: Make recipe up to shaping dough into buns, but before they rise. Place baking pan into the coldest part of the freezer. Allow to freeze solid. Store dough well wrapped until ready to use. When ready to bake, place frozen buns onto silpat or parchment lined pan, cover with oiled plastic wrap and allow to thaw/raise in refrigerator overnight. Remove pan from refrigerator 1/2 hour before baking. Brush with egg wash, snip cross shape, bake, etc as directed.

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*I have also used gf millet flour in place of the garfava in this recipe.

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**Note: When baking breads, I always place another baking pan on the bottom-most rack and add a couple of handfuls of ice cubes to the pan. I put the bread to be baked on the center rack in the oven, close the oven door, and bake as directed. This creates a steam oven for your gluten free bread and greatly improves the moisture and crust of the final product.